3/12/2023 0 Comments Nectar of the gods![]() ![]() ![]() “Fun Facts You Probably Don’t Know About the History of Honey. Public Domain.Ĭupid in a Tarot trump card design. Public Domain.Įgyptians Gathering Honey, Tomb of Rekhmire. Mesolithic rock painting of honey hunter. Honeycomb by Merdal at Turkish Wikipedia. And, as long as the lid is tightly sealed, it can be left in the cupboard indefinitely. Honey may not be the curative it once was, or the only source of sweetness in what was once a bland diet, but raw honey is still a good source of anti-oxidants, soothing on a sore throat, and very tasty on bread. By the early twentieth century, honey consumption dropped to just a half pound per person annually. No doubt, after a month of drinking honey wine with her new husband, the bride found herself pregnant.Īfter granulated white sugar became available, honey lost its premier position. During the Middle Ages, newlyweds drank honey wine for a full cycle of the moon to insure a fruitful union. Beeswax has a cleaner burn than candles made from animal fat, and drops little or no ash.Īnd did you know the origin of the term honeymoon is actually a reference to honey itself. Beeswax was also in high demand for the production of candles. In 12th century Europe, the average person consumed four and a half pounds of honey annually. The recipe gives me a new appreciation for Mary Poppins’ advice that a spoonful of sugar makes the medicine go down. Have the patient drink a bowl of the mixture. Add a little salt, 5 spoonfuls of honey, and 1 spoonful of oil. Boil in a kettle until it is cooked and thick. One remedy for stomach disorders stipulated: Dig up a beet and shake off the dirt. They only knew the results when they applied mixtures containing honey. The Anglo-Saxons had no way of knowing honey’s qualities as an antibacterial and anti-fungal remedy, or that it naturally contains hydrogen peroxide. Medicinally, Anglo-Saxons used honey to make salves, mix into soothing drinks, and cleanse wounds. This was possibly the type served to Beowulf. A third type called pigment was made from pure honey, flavored with spices to which wine was added. This was made from actual honey, water, and mulberry juice for flavoring. The wealthier classes drank a type of mead called morat. The longer the mixture was left, the more potent the drink. The most common mixture used empty honey combs which were steeped in water, strained, and set aside in earthen vessels until the mixture transformed into mead. The libation was famously consumed in Mead Halls, such as the one visited by Beowulf.Īt that time, there were three types of mead. The most famous Anglo-Saxon use of honey is the brewing of mead, a drink composed primarily of honey and water with some yeast thrown in for fermentation. The word ‘honey’ derives from the Old English hunig. Romans introduced beekeeping throughout their empire which may be how honey came to England. The bee is a symbol for the goddess Artemis, and Eros (more commonly known as Cupid) who dipped his arrows in honey before shooting their love potents into unsuspecting couples. The Greeks kept their hives in terra cotta pots, dubbed honey as ‘nectar from the gods,’ and made their own honey cake offerings. In Lower Egypt, the bee was one of the symbols for Pharaoh. They baked honey cakes as offerings to their gods. Egyptians used honey as a sweetener, and an ingredient in embalming fluid. Archeologists have found traces of honey on artifacts thousands of years old - which is a significant testimony for honey’s shelf-life.Ībout 4,000 BCE Egyptians began keeping bees in cylinders of unbaked hardened mud pots that could be stacked in rows, and used smoke to calm the bees before harvesting their honey. Honey’s sweetness comes from fructose and glucose. Anglo-Saxons didn’t know anything about bacteria, but they did observe honey’s beneficial effects in wound care.Įarly humans discovered honey as nothing short of a miracle. One of my nuggets of discovery is the historical importance of honey, and its many uses as an antibacterial agent. I’m doing research for my next novel set in Anglo-Saxon England. Worker bees visit over two million flowers to make one pound of honey. During their six-week lifespan, each worker bee produces half a teaspoon of honey. Bees, of course, produce honey from floral nectar and store it in wax honeycombs within their hives. As the earth warms up, flowers begin to peek through, inviting bees to gather pollen. Spring officially begins on Wednesday, though winter is often slow in leaving.
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